


By Mutual Consent

by imaginary_golux



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff and Smut, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-26
Updated: 2017-06-30
Packaged: 2018-11-19 09:12:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11310285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imaginary_golux/pseuds/imaginary_golux
Summary: Poehadan Alpha - though honestly the relationship was more like fuckbuddies than anything else - but Starkiller took a lot of people, and his Alpha was one of them. He really doesn't think he can deal with people attempting to court him while he's got a war to fight.Finn, conveniently, is an Alpha, and perfectly willing to step in and pretend to be Poe's.Unfortunately, Poe's not sure how long he can keep their relationship firmly in the category of "pretend."Beta by my so-patient Best Beloved, Turn_of_the_Sonic_Screw.





	1. Chapter 1

It doesn’t hit Poe for hours - not until after Finn has been soaked in bacta and wrapped in bandages and Doctor Kalonia has reassured Poe that Finn _will_ recover and left him to sit beside the unconscious body of his friend, not until after the adrenaline has drained from his system and Poe is only keeping his eyes open by sheer stubbornness. _Muran is dead_.

The thought sends Poe bolt upright in his chair, fingers closing tightly around Finn’s limp hand. Muran is dead, which means Poe _doesn’t have an Alpha anymore_.

It’s not as though he and Muran had anything but a heat-partnership, and a fairly loose one at that - certainly they weren’t _bonded_ or anything, they would have driven each other spare within _days_ \- but even in the Resistance, even under General Organa’s gimlet eye, an unmated Omega is considered fair game by _far_ too many Alphas. Without Muran’s scent on him - without that thin layer of protection - well, Poe can think of a half-dozen Alphas just off the top of his head who would want to become Poe’s heat-partner, and _none_ of them appeal to him at all. And even with BB-8 for backup and the General’s stern admonitions about consent, Poe’s not sure he can keep a half-dozen Alphas - or more, kriff, if they get new recruits there might easily be more than that - from making his life a misery.

And there’s not a one of the available Alphas on base who Poe would consider even having a _heat-partnership_ with of his own free will. Back on Yavin, that might have been acceptable - back on Yavin, he could have retreated onto his family’s farm and not even the most ardent of suitors would have dared cross the property line and risk Kes Dameron’s wrath. But he’s not _on_ Yavin, and his tiny private bunkroom is nowhere near as impregnable as the Bey-Dameron estate, nor is BB-8 so formidable a protector as Poe’s father. Not that Poe _needs_ protecting, he’s defended himself before and almost certainly will again, but still. The last thing the Resistance needs is for Poe to have to start maiming Alphas because they can’t take no for an answer.

Poe leans down to rest his head on the bed beside Finn’s hand, exhausted and depressed. He does not need this bantha shit right now. He would prefer to _never_ have to deal with it, but _now_? After Starkiller, after the _Finalizer_ , after Jakku - Poe has never felt _less_ competent to deal with pushy, overbearing, idiotic Alphas, and if and when any of them _do_ give him trouble, he’s likely to do something he’ll later regret.

Poe inhales deeply, planning to empty his lungs in a sigh loud enough to fill the room, and instead gets a snootful of the most glorious Alpha scent he’s ever encountered. He’d be frankly embarrassed at the way he flails backwards, nearly falling out of his chair, except that he’s too busy being _astonished_.

 _Finn_ is an Alpha.

Intellectually, Poe did know that already - he got a good whiff of it while he was hugging Finn, took a little guilty pleasure in breathing in that glorious scent during those few frantic hours while they planned the Starkiller mission. But that had been nearly academic - Poe already _had_ a heat-partner, after all, and enjoying Finn’s lovely scent was on roughly the same level as enjoying looking at a particularly attractive person, not lusting or even dreaming but just taking pleasure in the sheer beauty existent in the galaxy.

But now - now Poe needs an Alpha. And Finn is an Alpha. And Finn is - was - wearing Poe’s jacket, is already marked with Poe’s scent, and is _unconscious_ , which means that this would give Poe a little - a little _breathing space_ , some time to figure out what he really wants - and it’s not like it will affect Finn, after all, while he’s in a healing coma -

Poe knows it’s a bad idea, a kriffing _terrible_ idea, even as he does it, but he raises Finn’s limp hand to press the scent-gland at his wrist to Poe’s own throat, and breathes in the heady scent of _Alpha_ , and marks himself as Finn’s.

*

Poe is honestly a little surprised that everybody buys it. _Surely_ there’s someone on base who realizes that he and Finn have only known each other for a total of about eight waking hours, and that there was no time for them to come to a proper agreement? But apparently the combination of Finn wearing Poe’s jacket and Poe wearing Finn’s scent - and, to be completely fair, the fact that Poe is willing to babble on about how utterly wonderful Finn is given any excuse at all - is enough to convince even the pushiest of the Resistance’s Alphas that Poe is well and truly spoken for.

It helps, Poe suspects, that Poe _does_ spend hours every day sitting beside Finn’s bed, talking to him or singing softly or even just doing paperwork. He doesn’t want Finn to be alone when he wakes up, and Rey asked Poe _specifically_ to look after her friend while she was away. Poe’s not stupid enough to disobey a baby Jedi, even if he hadn’t been inclined to watch over Finn anyway; but as he _is_ inclined to keep an eye on the man who saved them all, well, he can just kill two birds with one stone.

And Finn’s sickroom is quiet and peaceful. Poe can even get some sleep there, sometimes, without nightmares waking him. Something about having Finn there, even unconscious - something about that glorious Alpha scent - makes Poe feel safe even in his dreams. Maybe the chair isn’t terribly comfortable, but Poe would rather deal with the crick in his neck than with waking every half an hour choking on his own screams. And after a few days of his vigil, Doctor Kalonia has a cot brought in for him, so Poe can sleep by Finn’s side, his fingers curled around Finn’s limp hand, and that’s even better. Poe actually manages to sleep the night through, and goes to his morning meeting with his pilots bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and - as Jess Pava points out with a cheerful leer - smelling of Finn.

This makes, by Poe’s count, a minimum of three times Finn has saved his ass. Once on the _Finalizer_. Once by bringing BB-8 home. And now, once again, by giving Poe his protection.

Of course, Finn doesn’t _know_ he’s doing that, which is...awkward. And more than a little unethical on Poe’s part. But surely it won’t do any harm to let the charade stand until Finn at least wakes up? At this point, it would be pretty hard to call it off, in any case - no one is going to believe Poe Dameron dumped his Alpha while said Alpha is in a _coma_ , for stars’ sake.

*

Finn wakes up.

Poe is, of course, ecstatic. He’s the first person Finn sees when his eyes finally open - is, in fact, sitting beside Finn with their fingers tangled together, singing a lullaby his mother used to sing to him - and the expression of utter joy on Finn’s face when he sees Poe there is one of the most beautiful things Poe has ever seen.

Finn asks about Rey, first of all, and Poe tells him that Rey is off convincing Luke Skywalker to come out of his hermitage, which makes Finn smile. And then they are interrupted by what seems like every doctor on the base, and Poe finds himself crammed back against the wall while they all fuss over Finn. It takes far too long before they’re alone again, just the two of them and BB-8 caroling its happiness by Poe’s feet, and Poe sits back down in the chair beside Finn’s bed, where Finn is propped up on pillows and looking a little dazed, and says, “So I need to apologize.”

“Why?” Finn asks, puzzled.

Poe takes a deep breath, braces himself for any response he can think of - frankly Finn would be well within his rights to be _furious_ \- and explains.

Finn blinks at him for a long moment after Poe is done, and then says, slowly, “So...that matters, here? Alpha and Beta and Omega and all that?”

Poe blinks back, and nods. “Yeah, that matters,” he says sadly.

“Huh,” says Finn, and reaches out to take Poe’s hand gently. “Well. If it makes your life easier - we could keep pretending. I don’t mind. You’re my friend.”

Poe slumps down in his chair, weak with shock and relief. “Really? I mean - it was pretty unethical, what I did. You don’t owe me _anything_ , buddy.”

“You’re my _friend_ ,” Finn says again, shrugging. “And it’s stupid that people would give you shit for being an Omega without an Alpha, so if I _can_ help, I want to.”

Poe takes a deep breath and curls his fingers more tightly around Finn’s. “If you’re sure, buddy, then that would - that would be wonderful. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Finn says, smiling, and Poe looks at that glorious smile and realizes exactly how badly he has just screwed up.

How the _kriff_ is he supposed to have a fake relationship with Finn and not fall in love?

But what other option does he have?


	2. Chapter 2

The thing is, it’s awfully easy for Poe to pretend that he and Finn really do have a romantic relationship. Poe _is_ in Finn’s sickroom at all hours, helping him fill out paperwork and encouraging him as he powers through physical therapy and telling him all the old tales of the Rebellion and the General to counteract the horror stories the First Order fed him. And when Finn is well enough to leave the medical wing, it’s Poe who shows him to his tiny new room, and who walks him to the mess hall and tells him what everything is and introduces him to everyone. Poe _wants_ to do all of that. Finn’s...Finn’s _marvelous_. Poe wants to spend as much time with Finn as he can.

And of course Finn is funny and clever and oddly innocent in some ways and _very_ much not an innocent in others, he’s bright and brave and dedicated and blisteringly intelligent, and frankly Poe might have fallen in love with him even _without_ the whole saving-Poe’s-ass-repeatedly thing _or_ the fact that Finn’s Alpha scent is the most glorious thing Poe’s ever smelled, but taken all together? Yeah, it takes Poe about three days to figure out that he’s completely, irrevocably screwed, because he’s fallen so hard for Finn that it makes _gravity_ look weak.

It doesn’t help that Finn is apparently just as tactile as Poe is, and so for every time Poe slings an arm around Finn’s shoulders to steer him across a crowded room, there’s a time Finn tucks an arm around Poe’s waist to pull him closer. For every time Poe leans comfortably against Finn’s side while they sit together at the mess table and laugh at the antics of Poe’s pilots, there’s a time Finn takes Poe’s hand as they walk through the corridors and holds it tight. For every time Poe hauls Finn into a celebratory embrace after a mission gone right, there’s a time Finn flops out on the enormous squashy couch in the pilots’ rec room and puts his head in Poe’s lap. Poe doesn’t _want_ to stop touching Finn - kriff, he _never_ wants to stop touching Finn - but every night he goes back to his tiny bunkroom and strips off his shirt and it _smells like Finn_ , that warm glorious Alpha scent everywhere around him.

It does make sleeping easier, actually. As long as Poe’s got at least a few old shirts that smell like Finn to tuck under his pillow, the nightmares stay away, as though Poe’s subconscious knows that there’s an Alpha there to protect him even in his dreams. Not just _any_ Alpha, either: Finn. Beautiful, beloved, _wonderful_ Finn.

...So yeah, Poe’s pretty much kriffed, because he _is_ in love, and he’s pretty sure that Finn just plain doesn’t feel the same.

*

BB-8 is the only person who knows the whole ridiculous situation, because of course Poe’s not going to keep any secrets from his _droid_ , even if he _could_ , and so it’s BB-8 who Poe pours out his heart to in the evenings.

{Best-Friend-Poe should tell Friend-Finn the truth,} BB-8 opines firmly.

“Yes, but then he’ll - well, he won’t want to pretend to be my Alpha anymore,” Poe says wearily. “And since there isn’t anyone else I want, I’ll have to deal with telling Alphas to kriff off, and that’s just more stress than I need right now, you know?” He sighs. “I don’t know what I’m going to do when my heat hits, though.”

{Best-Friend-Poe is behaving in an illogical manner,} BB-8 beeps disapprovingly. {Friend-Finn has great affection for Best-Friend-Poe.}

“Yeah, he’s my friend,” Poe says. “And that’s great, really it is, I literally could not ask for a better human friend,” he grins down at the droid weakly, “and if I’m in love with him, that’s my problem to deal with. He doesn’t need me _gushing_ at him when he’s not interested in _me_.”

BB-8 whirls in an irritated little circle. {Best-Friend-Poe lacks important data!} it shrills. {Best-Friend-Poe is making unproven assumptions about Friend-Finn!}

“...I’m pretty sure if Finn _actually_ wanted to be my - my boyfriend, he’d have said something,” Poe says sadly. “Ah, I’m sorry, buddy, I keep going on about this. What say we work on your maintenance upgrades?”

{Best-Friend-Poe is being illogical,} BB-8 grumbles, but it turns to let Poe get at its data ports, too, so he figures it’s probably not _too_ annoyed after all.

*

Poe’s reasonably sure he would have kept pining indefinitely if nature hadn’t intervened. But Poe’s heats are regular as clockwork, every four months, and he put off the last one with suppressants, and Doc Kalonia flatly refuses to allow him to suppress two in a row. “The side effects of overuse of suppressants are clearly documented,” she tells him, a week before his heat is due to start. “And I don’t suspect you want to deal with them in the middle of a war, Commander Dameron.”

Poe grimaces. The side-effects of suppressant overuse include blurry vision and hand tremors, which are...contraindicated for a fighter pilot. He’s known he was skirting the line for a _while_ \- while he was in the Academy, he took the suppressants every time, because he saw what sort of _shit_ the Omegas who took heat-partners during training got, and even once he was in the regular military, he only actually experienced about one heat in three. And he’s not as young as he was. Suppressing his next heat probably _would_ be dangerous.

But - kriff, kriff, _kriff_. If he doesn’t suppress this heat, then he either needs to get leave from the General to go off-base and find a nice, discreet little Heat House somewhere, and pay a professional Alpha to see him through it; or lock himself in his room for three days with the collection of obscene toys he keeps in a box under his bed, and hope no one asks him why the kriff he didn’t spend his heat with his _Alpha_ ; or ask Finn to spend a heat with him. And that - well - Poe’s not sure he can bear to spend a heat with the man he loves, knowing that Finn doesn’t love him in return.

On the other hand, he’s also not sure he can bear to spend his heat with anyone _else_ , now that he’s spent the better part of three months surrounded with Finn’s scent. Poe’s heart and body are in _complete_ agreement that Finn is their right and proper Alpha. It’s only his mind that keeps pointing out that while Finn might be Poe’s Alpha, Poe isn’t Finn’s Omega.

So Poe takes a deep breath, and reminds himself that a broken heart won’t _actually_ kill him, and goes to find Finn.

*

Finn is doing his stretches, as he usually is this time of day - Doc Kalonia adores him, because of all her patients he’s the one most likely to do exactly as she tells him - and looks up with a smile when Poe knocks on the half-open door to his quarters. It only took him a couple of days to get used to the Resistance’s door-courtesy codes: open means come on in, half-closed means knock first, closed means don’t bother unless it’s an emergency. Finn’s door is usually half-open. He likes his space, but he likes people, too.

“Poe!” he says joyfully. “Come in! What’s the matter?”

Poe winces; he didn’t realize he was _that_ easy to read. He closes the door behind him, because he does not want anyone listening in on this conversation, and curls up in the chair by Finn’s desk, out of the way, while Finn finishes his stretches. Finn’s wearing an old shirt that used to be Poe’s and a pair of workout pants that look ridiculously good on him - Poe didn’t think those could look good on _anyone_ , but hey, Finn exists to shatter perceptions, apparently - and he’s sweating just a little, which means the whole room is full of his glorious Alpha scent. Poe breathes it in almost desperately. This might be the last time he gets to immerse himself in it, after all. After this, Finn might not want Poe around anymore.

You can’t die of a broken heart, Poe reminds himself firmly.

Finn finishes his stretches and hauls himself up to sit on the edge of his bunk, giving Poe a worried look. “Alright, what _is_ the matter?” he asks. “You look _miserable_ , Poe.” He holds out a hand. “D’you want a hug?”

Poe curls himself tighter in the chair, wincing. “Thanks, buddy, but - um - I think I’d better stay over here,” he says.

“Now you’re _really_ worrying me,” Finn says grimly. “Are you sick? Did - did someone die?”

“No, no, nothing like that,” Poe says hastily. “It’s just - oh, kriff. So my heat is going to hit in about a week.”

Finn nods, clearly not understanding the problem.

“Normally, I’d spend my heat with my - um - my Alpha,” Poe says miserably. “But. Um.”

“Did you...want another Alpha?” Finn asks, sounding a little hurt. Poe’s eyes go wide.

“Kriff, no!” he blurts, and then sighs. “No, that’s the problem, actually. I don’t want to spend my heat with anyone but you. But. Um. I...I know you agreed to be my Alpha as a favor to me, but, well, I -” he takes a deep breath. “I’ve gone and fallen in love with you,” he admits, “and I think having a heat with you when you _don’t_ love me would be...unpleasant.”

Finn blinks at him for a long moment. Then he says, “Jess told me you were kind of an idiot sometimes, and I didn’t believe her.”

Poe stares. Whatever response he was expecting, that was not it. “What?”

“You _idiot_ ,” Finn says, voice oddly gentle. “I have been in love with you since - since I discovered you weren’t dead on Jakku. I woke up in medbay knowing I was safe because I could smell you. I kept your _jacket_ because it smelled like you. Rey said I should tell you, but I thought you were - I thought you knew, and didn’t want me like that, so I figured being your fake Alpha was as good as I was going to _get_.”

“Oh,” Poe says. “No, I - I didn’t. Know, I mean. I didn’t know. You - really? Me?” He’s trying hard to rearrange his memories from the last _three months_ , for kriff’s sake, to include the fact that apparently every time he thought, ‘No, no, that can’t possibly be anything more than a friendly gesture,’ it _was_.

“Yes, you,” Finn says, and holds out his hand again. “Will you - come over here? Please?”

Poe won’t - _can’t_ \- deny his beloved Alpha anything, even if he wanted to, which he _definitely_ doesn’t, and he’s on his feet and stumbling across the scant space between them before he can even think about it, collapsing on the bed next to Finn and leaning into him, tucking his head into the crook of Finn’s neck and breathing in that warm, glorious Alpha scent. Finn wraps one arm around him comfortingly. “So I’m kind of an idiot sometimes,” Poe mumbles against Finn’s throat.

“Yes, well, so am I, apparently,” Finn says, voice very fond. “We can be idiots together.”

“Sounds good,” Poe agrees. “So. Um.” He raises his head just enough that he can see Finn’s face. “D’you - want to spend my heat with me?”

Finn smiles so bright it almost hurts to look at. “Yes,” he says quietly. “I would like that a lot.” He takes a deep breath. “But - um -”

“Yes?” Poe asks anxiously.

“Two things,” Finn says slowly. “The first is that I’ve helped Omegas through their heats before, but that was in the First Order and I bet you do it differently here, so you’re gonna have to coach me through it.”

Poe nods vigorously. “I can do that,” he says. “And you’re a fast learner - you’ll catch on quick.”

Finn smiles. “Right. Okay. Um. Second thing.” He raises his free hand to trace his thumb along Poe’s cheekbone almost wonderingly. “Can I - can I kiss you?”

“ _Please_ ,” Poe says, and Finn leans forward and - oh.

He tastes even better than he smells.


	3. Chapter 3

Poe’s heat wakes him up six days later, right on time, and he flaps a hand at BB-8 as he rolls out of bed and heads for his tiny refresher. “Go get Finn, buddy?”

{I will bring Friend-Finn,} BB-8 promises, and goes whirring out the door. Poe checks his datapad for any urgent messages, then sends a quick note to Jess reminding her that he’s out on heat-leave for the next three days, and turns the ‘pad off. There’s nothing quite like getting a message chime in the middle of a heat to ruin the mood.

He’s still in the refresher when Finn knocks on the door. “Poe?” he calls, sounding a little worried.

“Come in,” Poe calls back. “And lock that behind you, yeah?”

“Sure,” Finn says, and does. “BB-8’s standing guard outside, is that alright?”

“Yeah, that’s perfect,” Poe agrees. “Go ahead and get comfy - I’ll be a minute.”

He hears Finn rustling around outside while he finishes his business in the refresher and then takes a quick but thorough shower. The first morning before a heat really hits is always kind of gross.

And when he comes out, Finn is naked in his bed. Poe stops in the doorway to the refresher, staring, and then pinches himself hard. Yep, this is real, and not a dream.

Finn gives Poe a slightly dubious look. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Poe says absently, still staring in awe and more than a little lust at the _beautiful_ Alpha on his bed. _His_ beautiful Alpha, beautiful inside and out, Light all the way to the bone. “Just - hard to believe you’re real, sometimes, sweetheart.”

“Come here, then,” Finn offers, opening his arms, and Poe stumbles across the room and half-falls into the bed, into Finn’s embrace, into the _glorious_ Alpha scent rising around them, and oh _kriff_ , the feeling of Finn beneath him, Finn’s skin warm against his, Finn’s arms strong and gentle around him, Finn’s heartbeat matching Poe’s -

Poe puts his head down in the crook of Finn’s neck and just breathes for a long moment, trying desperately to grab onto whatever control he has left and not just get up on his hands and knees and _beg_ the way his hindbrain suddenly _really_ wants to do.

Finn strokes down Poe’s back, gentle and soothing and absolutely perfect. “So I went to Doc Kalonia and she gave me a bunch of stuff to read about how heats go in _normal_ places,” he says quietly, voice rumbling through Poe’s chest. Poe hums and takes another deep breath, Alpha-scented and wonderful. “But she also said every Omega’s different and I should ask you what _you_ need.”

“You,” Poe says without thinking, and then blushes.

“You’ve got me,” Finn says calmly. Poe bites back a moan at the ease of that assurance - at how _good_ it feels, to know his Alpha, his _Finn_ is here with him because he _wants_ to be. “But how d’you want me?”

“Every way possible,” Poe says, blushing harder. Heat does bad things to his inhibitions. “But. Um. If you don’t mind, for the first round, could I - um -”

“Anything you need,” Finn says firmly. “You’re calling the shots.”

“Could I ride you?” Poe asks, not daring to look up. It’s not quite the normal way to start a heat, but Poe’s always liked the way the position lets _him_ choose how deep and fast to go, before the heat takes over completely.

Finn shivers, and his arms tighten around Poe. “That...that sounds really good,” he says hoarsely.

“Yeah?” Poe asks, daring to raise his head. Finn’s eyes are blown black, and he licks his lips and grins up at Poe.

“Yeah,” he says, desire clear in his voice. “That sounds _really_ good.”

Poe shivers deliciously at the heat in Finn’s eyes. His heat is coming on fast now - he can feel the first wave of it approaching, the delirious ecstatic desire that’s going to drive everything out of his mind but the desperate need for Finn’s knot - but there’s something he wants to do before it hits.

“Kiss me,” he says, and Finn cups a hand gently around the back of his head, fingers lacing through Poe’s curls, and pulls him down into a kiss that’s sweeter than Poe could have ever imagined.

Poe’s still lost in the wonder if that kiss when his heat hits properly, and he goes from very interested in the proceedings to utterly desperate in the space of about five seconds. “Oh kriff _please_ ,” he gasps against Finn’s mouth, and Finn says, “Anything.”

Poe’s too heat-lost to care that he’s moaning eagerly as Finn coaxes him up onto his knees straddling Finn’s hips. The first touch of Finn’s gorgeous cock to his hole is _electrifying_ , and Poe goes utterly still for a long moment, savoring the anticipation, and then the heat-madness rises up to claim him completely and _kriff_ anticipation, Poe wants Finn’s knot in him _now_.

He sinks down in one long, glorious motion, and Finn’s head goes back and his hands clench on Poe’s hips and he _moans_ , the sound almost as arousing as the feel of Finn’s cock deep inside Poe, and Poe braces his hands on Finn’s lovely shoulders and his knees on the rucked-up sheets and _moves_ , riding Finn ruthlessly towards orgasm, gasping out his pleasure as Finn catches the rhythm and moves to meet it, strong hands pulling Poe down at the apex of each thrust. Poe knows he’s moaning far too loudly, knows he’s probably clutching at Finn far too hard, but this lost in heat-madness he doesn’t kriffing _care_. He is made of lust and desperate desire, and his Alpha, his glorious Alpha, is fucking him _so good_ , and nothing else in the universe matters.

Poe thinks he screams. He _knows_ he comes, clenching around Finn’s knot and shaking with ecstasy. He comes back to himself at last, slumped against Finn’s chest with Finn’s arms around him, feeling wrung out and gloriously sated, the next wave of his heat still a fair ways off.

“Wow,” Finn says softly after a few moments. “Is it _always_ like that?”

“No,” Poe says, cuddling closer. “That was a _lot_ better than usual.”

“Ah,” Finn says, sounding pleased and proud. Which, in Poe’s considered opinion, is exactly how he _should_ sound. Poe pushes up on one elbow until he can smile down into Finn’s eyes.

“Remind me, after my heat’s over,” he says quietly, “to ask you to marry me.”

Finn blinks, and then a slow, delighted smile spreads across his face. “Yeah?” he says softly. “You sure?”

“I’d ask you right now, but legally nothing I say during heat counts as a binding promise,” Poe tells him solemnly. “But you are kriffing perfect in every possible way, and I am done being an idiot and not telling you important things, like, for instance, that I love you and want to marry you.”

“Well,” Finn says, cupping one hand around Poe’s cheek, “you’re kriffing perfect too, so, y’know, when your heat’s over, I’m gonna say yes.”

“Good,” Poe says, and wriggles a little, relishing the feel of Finn still deep inside him, the anticipation of his heat’s second wave growing steadily nearer. “In the meantime, since my heat _isn’t_ over, would you like to try and see how many positions we can explore before it is?”

“I think that sounds like a really good idea,” Finn says softly, just the tiniest hint of a growl behind his tone. Poe shivers and feels himself flushing, hot with delight and desire. “Let’s do that.”

“Let’s,” Poe breathes, and for the first time in his life he feels the rising madness of his heat with nothing but joyful anticipation.

*

Poe wakes up knowing that his heat has finally passed. He’s sticky and sore and more than a little astonished at how creative they managed to get - Finn fucked him up against the _wall_ , for kriff’s sake, Poe’s feet dangling helplessly and his arms wrapped around Finn’s neck as he wailed his pleasure - and very, very happy. Beside him, Finn is still sleeping the sleep of the thoroughly fucked out. Poe runs a gentle hand down Finn’s back, traces the long scar with careful fingers. _His_ Alpha, strong and brave and kind, gentle and fierce and generous, loyal and brilliant and loving.

Finn makes a soft, sleepy sound, and rolls over just a little so he can blink up at Poe. Poe smiles helplessly down at him, breathing in their mingled scents with every breath and feeling more contented than he can ever remember. “Morning, Finn,” he says quietly. Finn smiles, bright as sunrise.

“Morning, Poe,” he says, and reaches out to pull Poe gently down into a soft, sweet kiss. Poe snuggles in closer to him, humming in contentment as Finn shifts until they’re cuddled face to face, Poe’s leg slung over Finn’s hips and Finn’s arm wrapped warmly around Poe, their faces so close that their noses brush and they’re sharing the air between them with every breath.

“I love you,” Poe says quietly, smiling into Finn’s beautiful eyes. “Marry me.”

“I love you,” Finn says, quiet and wondering, like it’s the most marvelous secret he’s ever heard. “Yes.”

**Author's Note:**

> I know I said I'd never write a/b/o again, but...never say never, I guess.
> 
> Chapter updates Wednesday and Friday.
> 
> I'm imaginarygolux on tumblr - drop on by!


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